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The marketing research process requires an outlined, methodical gathering of market data to aid in business and managerial decision making. Additionally, market research helps business owners and entrepreneurs identify problems and opportunities in their respective niche. Entrepreneurs and companies must follow a specific set of steps to collect data and complete an effective market research study.

Research Objective

Any useful marketing research study begins with a clearly defined objective. A clear and written objective helps business owners avoid studying the wrong or a nonexistent problem. A useful research objective should declare the specific question or problem that necessitated the research and its importance.

Data Sources

Marketing research involves two types of data sources: primary data sources and secondary data sources. Secondary data sources, also known as published data, come from credible and independent sources. Secondary sources should be the first line of collecting data when conducting marketing research, as they are widely available and often inexpensive. If secondary data sources cannot answer the objective, the researcher must collect primary data, which is typically collected specifically for the objective of the examination at hand, according to the American Marketing Association Dictionary of Marketing Terms. While primary data often fits more precisely with the research objective, data collection can be costly and time consuming.

Data Collection Instrument

Market researchers who need primary data must construct a data-collection instrument to collect information. In most instances, this consists of observational studies or questionnaires. The quality of the data-collection instrument determines the quality and usefulness of the data. Researchers can “pre-test” the data-collection instrument to gauge its suitability. During the pre-test, researchers use a survey or their specific data-collection instrument to test people who are similar in age, education and knowledge of your respective market to the actual customer or sample subject. Pre-test participants must complete the instrument in the same manner as actual sample subjects. For example, if a data-collection instrument requires a telephone survey, the pre-test participants must take the pre-test over the phone. After completion, researchers should ask the test group if there were any questions or instructions that were unclear or unnecessary to determine if a category or question requires revision or removal.

Sample Size and Design

Quality within the sample size is more important than the quantity of the sample size. The goal of data sampling is to obtain answers from representatives of an entire population of interest, not amass a large sample size. When selecting which candidates to use in the sample, researchers can use a variety of sampling methods. Primary sampling methods include random sampling -- a stratified sampling method -- where individuals are chosen based on shared characteristics; an area sampling, where individuals are selected according to specific locations, or quota sampling, where individuals are chosen out of specific subgroups.

Data Analysis and Final Report

Data analysis consists of recording and summarizing the responses for each question or observation for every participant. Summary calculations such as determining the most frequent answer or average answer can provide an overview of the survey information. Advanced calculations and statistical tests, which vary according to the sampling method used to obtain data, can provide additional insight, such as the difference in answers given by two different respondents.